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Mactan-Cebu International Airport’s second runway is now 53.11% complete
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The 2,560-meter long and 45-meter-wide runway is targeted for completion by May 2022
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Partial operability before the end of April 2022 is expected
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The airport’s P744-million six-story corporate building was inaugurated on October 28
Mactan-Cebu International Airport’s (MCIA) second runway is now 53.11% complete and eyed for partial operability in late April 2022, according to Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade.
Tugade was in Cebu on Oct 28 to inaugurate the P744-million Mactan-Cebu International Airport Authority’s (MCIAA) new corporate building.
During the same event, MCIAA general manager Julius Neri, Jr. said the 2,560-meter-long and 45-meter-wide runway will be completed in May 2022.
The project, which was conceptualized by MCIAA to expand the airport’s capacity, started in February 2020 and was initially for completion in February 2022. COVID-19-related mobility restrictions and weather disturbances pushed back completion, Neri said.
The second runway will be “co-dependent” with the existing runway as both cannot be used simultaneously, he said. “They can be used one after the other. So for example, one runway can be used for take-off exclusively, the other one for landings, exclusively. So it will not double capacity but we are aiming to increase capacity by maybe 30% or …somewhere in that vicinity.”
Neri said while putting up a second runway does not seem “very urgent” with the onset of the pandemic, he said they foresee “very soon that there will be a rebound in the economy, there will be a rebound in tourism as people learn to live with COVID.”
Meanwhile, the new six-story MCIAA corporate building features better equipment and facilities, and a command center. The building is located in the MCIA complex and has an area of 15,994.5 square meters. Construction began on March 28, 2018; completion was on March 21, 2021.
The Department of Transportation (DOTr), in a statement, said the new building aims to provide much-improved service, accessibility and convenience to the agency’s clients.
Identical to MCIA’s design, the new corporate office building will also have passageways linked to the airport’s terminal buildings to avoid crossing vehicle lanes.
MCIAA is an attached agency of DOTr authorized to administer and operate MCIA. It operates MCIA with private operator GMR Megawide Cebu Airport Corp.
Last May, DOTr also inaugurated the airport’s new taxiway and apron, which increased aircraft parking capacity from 40 slots to 50 and maximized aircraft movement capacity.
